I just recently kind of fell in love with coins. Now, I can't stop! I inherited a number of coins about a year ago, and when I started to look into their worth, I caught the collecting bug.

My question is about values and grading. I am a little confused about PL values regarding sets. I notice in looking through this site and some others, that in some cases a single coin at say pl65 is worth more than the value of the set. Is this accurate? If so, why would anyone sell the set in tact and not just farm out the various coins? Seems like I'm missing something! Thanks!

On this web site, the PL value is for a coin that has been graded and certified by a third party grader (TPG) such as CCCS or ICCS in Canada. In an unopened PL set, coins are uncirculated and all of them are usually of high grade (PL-63 and above for most sets). When you buy a PL set that looks good, you may assume the grade is at least PL-63 and sometimes better. If you see a coin having no mark with a beautiful stike and send it to a TGP, the coin may be returned to you with a higher grade (PL-66 / PL-67 and not often above that). Sometimes, you may buy a whole PL set for 30$ and have a single coin that worth 3 times this amount after it has been graded and certified by a TGP.

The grade of an uncirculated coin is about how close it is to perfection. The better condition of the coin will give it an higher grade and an higher value on the market.

Dan

An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

I was curious because a lot of what I have are uncirculated sets from 1962 to now, and in some cases I have 3 or 4 of each set. So my plan is to sell some of the duplicates to help fund the purchasing of uncirculated sets from 1954 to 1961(amongst other things). Just that it seems sooooooo wrong to carve up an intact set. Maybe I'll try farming out one set and see how it goes!

It may be a bad idea to open a PL set and send coins to a TPG. Looking through the pliofilm (original plastic envelope), this is difficult to see if a coin is a PL-63 or a PL-65. It will cost you 15$-20$ per coin to get it graded and certified and much more if you request insurance.

You must be aware that, for many years, coins taken from a PL set have a different strike than new coins taken from an unopened mint roll issued for circulation. For those years, you can see the difference between PL and MS strikes. TPG are very good to identify these coins as PL-xx or MS-xx. This is why a coin graded MS-64 has an higher value than grade PL-64. For some years, there is no difference between PL and MS as these coins were made in the same batch.

For a few years, some coins were available in PL sets only and they are now relatively rare as the mintage of PL sets is low. For those coins that can't be found in circulation (not available in rolls), it might be a good idea to get these graded and certified by a TGP but I would never do it. I prefer to buy or sell a whole PL set and let the collector decide to open it.

Some PL sets have an higher value as a set than the value of coins inside. It happened this year when the Royal Canadian Mint shipped a few 2016 PL sets with a 2015 dollar inside. This "error" PL set has been sold on eBay for a few hundred dollars for a while. This is a PL set that must not be opened. There are other coins with an error or a variety that can be found in PL sets only.

My best hint would be that you take some time to know what you have in hands. I also have a bunch of PL sets that I want to sell but won't sell until I know what I have.

Dan

An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.